This newspaper reported Sunday a slew of difficulties within this high-volume arm of the local judiciary.

They include poor communications, a costly reliance on pro-tem judges, sagging employee morale and an antiquated system of tracking citations and fines, which have contributed to a staggering shortfall of about $3.5 million in payments from 2006 through July 2010.

Under these circumstances, it’s impossible for the court to fulfill its mission of fairly administering justice while inspiring trust and confidence. The judges must work this out together, with Chief Judge Stokes as catalyst.

There are differing opinions about whether she’s implementing needed reforms or is making things worse. But the current course can’t continue.

While judges are independent members of the judiciary, they aren’t insulated from politics. They shouldn’t have to be reminded that they are elected and that voters are paying attention to how they perform.

The Savannah City Council and Chatham County Commission should be watching, too. Both groups foot the bills for the court’s annual expenses — nearly $4 million.

City Manager Stephanie Cutter rightly expressed frustration about the current disorder in Recorder’s Court. “I don’t know what’s not working over there,” she said. “Something’s wrong and I assume there’s not good communications. ... They appear to be struggling with internal relationships.”

Then she added, “It could be just adjusting to the changes.”

At this point, it appears to be all of the above.

Recorder’s Court is a combination city-county court. According to a 2012 annual report, it handled more than 44,000 traffic cases, criminal matters and city and county municipal code violations last year. The judges also signed more than 8,500 criminal search and arrest warrants — essential weapons in combating crime. Thus it’s important that this court function as smoothly as possible.

It appears that some of the current problems didn’t spring up overnight. Take the cost of paying pro-tem judges to do the work of the elected judges. Those expenses have risen over the last three years.

Much of the earlier cost can be attributed to the chronic health problems of former Chief Judge Larry Dillon, who died in February 2012 while in office. He was too ill to serve on the bench near the end of his life. In 2011, his last full year in office, taxpayers spent $48,150 on pro tems, including $20,850 for Chief Judge Dillon and $17,025 for Judge Stokes. Last year, including months attributed to the late chief judge, taxpayers spent another $41,850 on pro tems, including a lion’s share of $25,200 for Chief Judge Stokes’s courtrooms.

This year, most of the additional cost can be directly attributed to Chief Judge Stokes. She inherited the top job after her predecessor’s death because she was next in line in seniority. Through March of this year, the total cost of pro-tems is $11,925, including $9,150 for Chief Judge Stokes. That’s substantial — roughly $3,000 per month.

The chief judge explains that administrative chores have forced her away from the bench, as she’s trying to overhaul an outdated, loosey-goosey system. There may be some truth to that. But judges aren’t elected to be office managers. Their time is better spent on the bench.

Also, Recorder’s Court already has a professional administrator. Let him earn his keep. One solution may be getting Chatham’s legislative delegation to change state law regarding court operations, approved during Chief Judge Dillon’s tenure, to take some of the day-to-day office pressures off the chief judge.

Meanwhile, there appears to be some behind-the-scenes dysfunction among the three judges, who also include Judge Claire Cornwell-Williams and Judge Harris Odell Jr.

Judge Cornwell-Williams said she often feels left out of the loop when it comes to the court’s management. That’s inexcusable. If the U.S. Supreme Court can cultivate teamwork, so can Recorder’s Court.

Meanwhile, Judge Odell said “there’s never been an acceptance that she’s (Stokes) chief judge.” This problem must disappear immediately. She’s chief judge. End of story.

It’s unlikely that three judges in any court are going to unanimously agree about operations. But only one person can be chief judge. And with that title comes the responsibility to minimize disruptions so the court can fulfill its mission. Chief Judge Stokes must dedicate herself to that task.

“The mission of the Recorder’s Court of Chatham County is to administer justice with fairness, equality, and integrity, to resolve matters before the court in a timely manner, and to provide courteous and prompt service in a manner that inspires public trust and confidence,” states the city’s website.

That’s a tall order. But right now, the court is falling far short of those goals.

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See if they can fix this mess. Our city manager hasn't got a clue, admitting she doesn't know what's wrong and hasn't bothered to find out. It would suit me if we clear out the whole gang and start over.

Recorder's Court has a administrator, what is this person doing if Judge Stokes is running the day to day operation of recorder's court? Maybe the judge needs to be reminded that there is an administrator hired to handle some of the task the Judge is presently doing. And if the Chief Judge continues to spend less time on the bench; votes may need to vote her off the bench and then city can hire her as the administrator.

One might take a spin through the recorders courts some time and witness for yourself the volumn of cases and the hectic nature of the place. Personally,I think judges have little time to sit down and "chew the fat" with other judges as they are constantly being bombarded 24 hours a day with request for warrants...Some of which may take some time to read and approve..And there are other issues requiring their time off the bench. To suggest that someone is not a team player is neither accurate nor fair at this point in the matter. Like other posters, the court admin. needs to either step up to the plate or get another job. I am embarrassed to say that until this article appeared I did not know IF there was a formal court administrator in place.

Nothing more than a hack job on Sunday's article. Judge Stokes seems to be trying to fix the problems and is becoming bogged down by those that either do not understand what needs to be done or those that are trying to hang on to their jobs and do nothing just a couple more years, so they can retire. Give Judge Stokes the opportunity and the resources to properly fix the years of neglect.

The Recorder's Court has had able Administrators in the past. Why did the last one take retirement?

The Chief Judge is also the Administrative Judge of the Court but it does not require the Chief Judge to handle the administration personally.

Sitting at the Bench, day in, day out, is grinding work. It requires a special mind set to achieve it. It is tiring to hear the same explanations, day in, day out, but that is the job. If it bores you or you cannot stand the job, get out!

The Judge makes a good 6 figure salary. We ought to know the exact amount that is paid and then we ought to see how many hours a week are done on the Bench by the respective Judges as well as the time out of Court that is spent on warrants.

We might be surprised to see the issues of time away from the Bench are not new but have been there since 2004.

The job is a political plum that goes not to the best qualified person, but goes to the party most connected with the politicos at City Hall and County Commission.

If you want to change this, then by all means, get out and vote for it. The problem lies in the fact that incumbent Judges are well nigh impossible to remove in Chatham County. When was the last sitting Judge beaten in an election? It has not occurred in the last 9 election cycles.